South African Open First-Round Leader Tips: Selections from 50/1 to 80/1

• 50/151.00 Fast starter Gavin Green loves it in South Africa

• 66/167.00 Andy Sullivan is finding his FRL form again

• 80/181.00 Jaco Prinsloo is a strong performer at home

Weather forecast for Thursday

Early morning temperatures are in the early-60s and climb to just over 80 degrees in the afternoon.

Wind speeds start at around 15mph but could drop a little lower than that in the early afternoon as the sun starts to emerge. They then pick up again.

There doesn't appear to be any dramatic weather bias which is just as well as less than 24 hours before the start of the event, there are no tee-times listed.

Back Gavin Green @ 50/151.00

Gavin Green is a player first-round leader punters always have in mind when the circumstances looks right.

The Malaysian cemented his reputation as a fast starter last year when ending day one inside the top seven no less than five times in eight events.

He also hit the ground running in this part of the world back in the Spring when opening with 66s at the Kenya Open and the Jonsson Workwear Open, good enough for fifth and seventh respectively after 18 holes.

Since then he's been FRL at the European Masters high up in mountains of Crans which bodes well given that we're at altitude in Joburg again this week.

Talking of Joburg, he finished like a train last week, closing out with a 64 to bank seventh spot.

Green now has three top sevens in his last four starts in South Africa so looks a good bet to thrive early in a country where he continues to thrive.

Back Andy Sullivan @ 66/167.00

It would be fair to class Andy Sullivan's form over the last five months as patchy.

In that time he's played in 14 worldwide events and missed the cut in half of them but on four occasions he's finished in the top 20.

That includes last week's Joburg Open where he played some good golf to take a share of 12th place.

The Englishman was third after round one thanks to a 66 while an opening 67 in the Qatar Maters on his previous start landed him in eighth on the first-round leaderboard.

That should put us on alert as earlier this season he had a golden run of fast starts when, in the space of five events, he set the pace in the ISPS Handa Championship in Japan via a 63 and was second after 18 holes in both the Korea Championship and the KLM Open.

Also a first-round leader at Wentworth in 2022 as well as this tournament back in 2015, Sullivan has fired 68 or lower in five of his last six openers in South Africa.

Back Jaco Prinsloo @ 80/181.00

As for the locals, I'm going to give Jaco Prinsloo a try.

The 34-year-old has made some good starts on the Challenge Tour in recent times, sitting third after day one of the Czech Challenge and ninth following the opening round of the German Challenge.

But it's on home soil where he does his best work.

Prinsloo shot a 66 to lead after day one of the Sunshine Tour's Limpopo Championship back in April and was third after the first lap of last week's Joburg Open, again after a 66.

That added to decent starts in his previous two events - the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship in Scotland and the Challenge Tour Grand Final in Spain - where he was in the top 25 after the opening round both times.

Finally, he ticks the course form box too.

Prinsloo strung together four solid rounds at Blair Atholl last year to finish in a tie for ninth while his recent record in South Africa shows two seconds, a third and a further three top 15s from his last eight starts here.

Now read Steve Rawlings on the South African Open.